More coastal homes need flood insurance

Published 9:28 pm, Sunday, July 15, 2012

Photo: John Burgeson

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John F. OâÄôConnell of Milford says that his neighborhood near Milford Point will be reclassified into a higher-risk coastal flood zone when the new FEMA maps come out next year. âÄúWhen Irene hit, this place wasnâÄôt touched,âÄù he says. less

John F. OâÄôConnell of Milford says that his neighborhood near Milford Point will be reclassified into a higher-risk coastal flood zone when the new FEMA maps come out next year. âÄúWhen Irene hit, this ... more

MILFORD — This city likes to brag that its 14 miles of shoreline is Connecticut’s longest, but that ribbon of sand and summer fun has another side to it.

Sometime next summer, as teenagers lazily sunbathe on city beaches, many of their parents will be opening letters informing them their homes are now in a flood zone.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency is putting the finishing touches on its new flood zone maps. As a result, about 3,800 homeowners in Milford alone will have to either buy flood insurance where none was needed before, or they’ll have to upgrade the coverage they already have. It’s a scene repeated in cities and towns up and down the state shoreline, from Greenwich to Stonington.

Officials say the new maps are needed for a number of reasons, not the least of which is increased development resulting in more pavement and additional stormwater runoff. There’s also vastly improved methodology for predicting coastal flood zones and wave action. In addition, topographical maps are now more accurate than the ones of even 20 years ago, thanks to new laser-assisted cartography that can determine altitudes above sea level to quarter-inch accuracy.

For most of the shoreline in Fairfield and New Haven counties, FEMA has added another foot of elevation above sea level to its map of coastal flood-prone areas, from 10 to 11 feet.

In some municipalities, including Fairfield and Bridgeport, this has added only a few hundred homes to the list needing flood insurance if they’re financed, thanks to their topography. But in other municipalities, there are plenty more homes on the flood insurance list.

And not all are beachfront estates with views of the rising sun over Long Island Sound. Many are humble working-class homes, where a glance out of the kitchen window only offers a view of the neighbor’s garbage cans. This is the case in Stratford, where scores of homes along Birdseye Street, Sedgwick Avenue and the adjoining side streets, some distance from shore, are now in a coastal flood zone.

More Information

Flood insurance: How much does it cost?
Flood insurance is almost always required by banks and other lenders for homes in flood-prone neighborhoods because regular homeowner policies don't cover flood-related damage. The following quotes are for a combination of buildings and contents.
For A-rated zones: High risk of coastal flooding without wave action:
Coverage Premium
$130,000 $1,129
$200,000 $1,695
$300,000 $2,930
For V-rated zones: High risk of coastal flooding combined with wave action:
$130,000 $1,838
$200,000 $3,270
$300,000 $6,410
Note: Rates assume deductibles of $2,000 for building and $2,000 for contents
Source: FEMA

“It’s not just around here, it’s nationwide,” said Diane Ifkovic, an environmental analyst and the national flood insurance coordinator for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. She said that over the next few months, much of the Eastern Seaboard will be getting new maps, if they haven’t already.

She said that for a few people — admittedly a very small number — the new maps will be good news, as their homes are being removed from the flood zones, usually because of recent drainage projects.

“There is an appeal process, but it can’t just be ’Well, I don’t like this.’ ” she said. “You’ll have to hire an engineer to look at it. It can be expensive.”

While the maps are still in preliminary form, they’re expected to be made official by mid- to late summer 2013, officials say.

“What it is showing is that you should pay attention to the fact that your home is susceptible to coastal flood damage,” Ifkovic said. “That’s the reality; the risk is there.”

In Milford, city officials are exploring the possibility of challenging the FEMA data, according to Third District Alderman Frank J. Smith, whose home on 2nd Avenue near Milford Point will be reclassified from being in an “A” or standard coastal flood zone to one requiring more expensive coverage because its in a “V” or velocity zone, meaning it cold be damaged by wave action, too.

But Smith said while there are some Milford homes that might have a shot at challenging the new maps, most of the affected homeowners will likely have to accept the FEMA data.

Smith said that more will be known in the next few days. His neighbor on 1st Street, Jack F. O’Connell, said that the salt marsh to the west of his home, the Charles E. Wheeler Wildlife Area, will effectively protect his home from damaging waves.

“In Irene, we hardly saw a drop of water,” he said. “If it floods here, the water will rise and fall like a bathtub. This wave action claim is erroneous.”

O’Connell said if he sold his home, the new owner, thanks to the upgraded maps, would be required to jack up the house 3 or 4 feet. This is because in addition to flood insurance, FEMA requires homes in wave-action zones to be able to take a good deal more punishment.

“And jacking up a house is expensive,” he said. “Already, everything in this house is 12½ feet above mean high tide. My own belief is that they paint with too broad of a brush — they put everyone around here in a wave velocity zone.”

Officials said homeowners who get flood insurance prior to September will be “grandfathered” in at their existing flood zone rate. But this reduced grandfathered premium will only last two or three years. After that, they’ll have to pay the going rate, officials agreed.

The new maps aren’t yet available online, but they can be seen at local planning and zoning offices. Each municipality has a designated flood zone administrator who can advise homeowners on whether their properties will be seeing greater flood insurance rates, and whether flood insurance will now be needed.

In most, but not all, coastline communities, local officials say that within the next few weeks, affected homeowners will be sent letters to advise them of the impending FEMA flood insurance requirements, if they haven’t already.

“Right now, we’re trying to determine which are the affected addresses, and soon will be sending out letters to inform those folks,” said Fairfield Planner James R. Wendt.

Westport planners say that about 2,500 properties are being affected by the new maps, and those property owners were sent letters to inform them of this three weeks ago.

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“When they raised that flood level, from 10 to 11 feet, it affected a lot of people,” said Westport Planning Director Laurence I. Bradley. “One of the big things that we told them in the letter was to get in on that grandfathered rate.”